What is HeartLife?

HeartLife is a discipleship tool to develop character. The HeartLife Indicator measures the spiritual and emotional drivers of behaviour: humility, pride, love and fear. We believe that the heart (or our character) is what motivates our thinking and behaviour.

HeartLife was created to strengthen Christians across the globe to live life out of God’s heart with a renewed mind and mature character. It was created to unlock hearts from the limitations of pride and fear and release them into the freedom and creativity of humility and love.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.Proverbs 4:23

The difference

HeartLife is unique because it has been designed as a development journey for individuals, leaders and cultures rather than a one-off assessment. Other type tools will answer the question ‘What are you?’ and this can be very useful for discovering your personality type and behavioural preferences. HeartLife, however, asks the question ‘Where are you?’ giving you an indication as to where your heart is at a point in time.

HeartLife Foundation Indicator

What individuals get

Individuals are able to choose the relevant Indicator pack for their situation, click here to find out more. Everyone who completes HeartLife online will get a Personal Development Guide. This Guide aids you in understanding your results and what you can do make steps to improve yourself.

Get a sample Personal Development Guide

What organisations get

Designed to transform the heart of the organisation, the Culture Development Guide is just the first benefit of what an organisation gets when they do HeartLife. The Culture Development Guide not only gives you a read on the behaviour in the organisation but also allows you to set your own questions to measure almost anything. See some recently used questions here. For more information about how to implement HeartLife in organisations click here.

How does it work?

The HeartLife journey begins with the 75-question survey which is one of the most simple, yet highly effective, ways to measure behaviour and gives you your Self Score Indicator. To get an idea of your goal or benchmark behaviour you answer the same survey again in the mindset of how you would like to be, this produces your Benchmark Indicator. From here you invite at least three other people to complete the survey on you, creating your Others Score Indicator. All these indicators appear in your Personal Development Guide downloadable from this website. To get more information on the Indicator click here.

The HeartLife Indicator

HeartLife Indicator Packs take 360 feedback to a new level with the number of respondents (those who fill the survey out on you) ranging from three to 15 people. These people could be from other departments, other parts of the organisation or even suppliers or stakeholders who are overseas.

Every time to you do HeartLife you will recieve at least three HeartLife Indicators:

The Self Score Indicator: You complete this and it displays how you perceive your current behaviour

The Benchmark Indicator: You complete this and it displays how you perceive your goal behaviour

The Others Score Indicator: Others complete this, and it displays how they perceive your current behaviour

Where is my focus?

Both a personal and others focus is required to be effective. In some settings it is appropriate to be very others focused, yet in other environments a personal focus is more appropriate. We need to learn to judge which focus fits our situation. Usually, life demands an even balance of both.

Where is my behaviour?

The top of the Indicator represents effective and functional behaviour. This is behaviour that comes from a place of being secure in God and also developed in our relationships with other people. It is characterised by the ability to speak honestly on a foundation of respect for others. The bottom of the Indicator represents behaviour that is ineffective or defensive. This behaviour comes from insecurity and the need to promote or protect ourselves. It is characterised by aggressive or passive behaviour.

Where is my spirit?

This splits the Indicator into four quadrants whose foundations are spiritual and emotional. Understanding the state of our hearts, spirit, attitudes and motivation provides insight into what is driving our behaviour, be it effective (humility and love) or ineffective (pride and fear). Having this awareness gives us the choice to shift our spirit and therefore our behaviour to effectiveness.

Indicator Pack Options

There are three Indicator pack options designed to suit every life situation. For the individual, the individual Pack will give you a 360 degree measurement of your behaviour. To get clear data on the balance of your work and social life, the Work Life Balance Pack allows you to get three people in your work environment to answer the survey on you, then three from your social environment to do the same.

For the leader or person who interacts with groups of people (departments, branches or countries), the Leader Pack gives you feedback from 15 people split into five groups of three. This has proved very useful for Pastors, leaders or board members who want insight, not only into how they are perceived at different levels in their organisation but also by those to whom they relate.

Indicator Pack Options

The Individual Pack

This is the entry-level pack and it allows you to ask three other people to complete the survey on you, giving you one Others Score Indicator. It is best to select one person you report to, one peer and someone who reports to you (or another peer).

The Work Life Balance Pack

For an accurate picture of your work/life balance, this pack allows you to ask two different groups of three people to give you feedback, preferably one group from your work and one from your friends or family.

The Leader Pack

This pack is for the leader who interacts with numerous groups of people on a regular basis. This could be their direct reports, people they report to, their peer groups, customers or suppliers. This allows them to ask five groups of three people for comprehensive insight.

The Origin of Human Defensiveness

Although the story of Adam and Eve is very familiar, the revelation from a behavioural perspective is not. Genesis 3 gives us insight into the origin of our human condition of defensiveness – blaming and not taking responsibility for our actions. This revelation is the foundation of why HeartLife has been developed. The Word of God, once again, has answers for us to discover.

To begin in Genesis, Adam and Eve were in the Garden, created in God’s image, and in communion and relationship with Him. There were no barriers between man and God – only truth, trust and love. Man had all he needed. Download the PDF to pick up the story at Genesis 3…

Get the PDF

In Business

HeartLife was created to strengthen Christians but a demand for HeartLife in the corporate sector resulted in the creation of two brands and two products – HeartStyles for the corporate sector and HeartLife for the Christian sector.

Founders

1994 — 2006

In 1994 HeartLife founders Stephen and Mara Klemich were inspired to develop a survey for Christians that measured effective behaviour.

Mara holds a PhD in Neuropsychology and a Masters in Clinical Psychology. Stephen has over 25 years of experience building high-performance executive teams and together they deliver corporate development programs worldwide.

What started off as a 578 question survey had been narrowed down to 240 by the end of 2006.

2007 — 2008

After 14 years of research and development HeartLife (originally called HeartStyles) was statistically validated: Anderson, D., & Jahng, N., (2008). Factor Analysis and Heuristic Validation of the HeartStyles Questionnaire. Unpublished technical report. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

2011

A second validation study was performed: Anderson, D., & Jahng, N., (2011). Refinement and Validation of the HeartStyles Questionnaire. Unpublished technical report. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

The HeartStyles Indicator also went through a major design revision, moving it to the clean design you see today.

2012 Onward

Final norming of the validated questionnaire was conducted in February 2012: Anderson, D., & Jahng, N., (2012). Norming of the HeartStyles Questionnaire for ‘Self’ and ‘Others’ Determinations. Unpublished technical report. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Academic Research

Locations

Hear From Others

All over the world people are benefitting from the transformation of HeartLife. Scroll down the page to read what people are saying.

Pastor Sheldon Kidwell, Cape Town, South Africa

HeartLife is an accessible tool that creates a space within the church environment to allow the deep things of the heart, that we so quickly overlook or underplay, to be brought to the fore in the environment of love and trust. It helps you personally see and recognise these deep things, good and bad, but empowers you to know what to do with them.

Being rolled out corporately allows each of us to understand the people around us we call The Church. Learning to understand and accept each other for who we are, brings great strength to a community and HeartLife does just that!.

Shaun, Redding, California

Understanding and results so clear that there's nowhere to hide - but after this, you won't want to.

Irene, Redding, California

God's DNA is encompassed throughout your program. You bring so much revelation of the goodness of God. I am now in even greater awe in how He formed us!

Megan, Redding, California

I’ve been robbing people (avoidance) of the real me (authentic). I’ve realised what weapons I’ve been using.

Jared, Redding, California

Don't fall short of your calling for fear of having enemies (approval seeking).

Matt, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife is ingenious. I'm filled with hope. You get used to behaviours that you can't change and think you have got to put up with them, but freedom is within reach.

Danielle, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife helped me see behaviours from a Kingdom perspective and overcome obstacles.

Libby, Sydney, Australia

Thank you so much for opening my heart to a new way of responding to God! A way that is exciting and will impact me as I go deeper into God.

Iain, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife has given me insight and a compassion to look at others and their heart rather than their reactions.

Susan, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife helped the healing of my deep wounding of emotions.

Dina, Sydney, Australia

Out of the heart flow the issue of life. HeartLife helps you look into your heart and discover where there are areas that need to improve.

Fiona, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife honours each person to facilitate growth rather than attempting to pigeonhole people.

Kathryn, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife has changed my view of myself and others for the better.

Emily, Sydney, Australia

I finally found a solid and practical way to develop myself through God and not through striving or stressing out about it!!!

Christopher, Sydney, Australia

HeartLife is fantastic for digging below the surface issues and revealing the issues of our hearts so that we can improve ourselves.